“When negotiating with (Newell’s) management regarding this fight, they were telling me about being offered a lot of money to fight for another promotion. We responded that if it’s about money, bring us the best offer and we’ll agree to match that offer. They did, we matched it, and we were again refused by Nick saying he only wants to fight ex-UFC fighters. So I had to make one of the hardest phone calls that I’ve ever had to make as a promoter. I had to call Scott Holtzman and tell him that the current champion is unwilling to fight him for his earned title shot.”

“When Nick came to us at the XFC tryouts, his biggest complaint was that no one would take a fight against him. Everyone was telling him, ‘It’s a no-win situation taking the fight. If you beat him, you beat a guy with half an arm, and if you lose, you just lost to a guy with half an arm.’ He knew by signing with our promotion that he was going to be guaranteed fights, as our fighters fight the person I put in front of them. Nick built his name on fighters who were willing to step up and fight him. And now, the opportunity he received, he is not willing to extend to Scott, even though they both carry the same XFC record. To me, that’s hypocritical and I have zero respect and no room for any individual that acts like that in my organization.”

“I think Nick knows what I believe: He was going to lose. Nick knows he can’t defend himself when someone like Scott puts him on his back. I believe Scott is one of the most talented 155ers on the planet. He’s training on the West Coast right now with Benson Henderson for that very reason. In my eyes, I saw the fight going first-round stoppage – Holtzman by ground-and-pound.”

“My contract is up and I chose not to go back to XFC. It’s not about Scott Holtzman, certainly not. It’s more so about me wanting to go somewhere that will guide me where I want to go. I want to go to the UFC. There was an interview with Dana White. I’m sure many people remember, and he said, ‘Well, has he beaten anyone that was in the UFC?’ And the answer’s no, because I haven’t had the opportunity to fight someone that was in the UFC. At 27 years old, I want to get to the top as soon as I can. No more playing around. I want to fight the guys who will get me where I want to be.”

EVERYBODY CALM DOWN! First of I AM NOT UNDER CONTRACT WITH THE XFC. XFC promoted a fight that didn’t exist yet.

The headlines are misleading and imply that I was stripped of my title because I refused to fight when in fact I just chose not to renew my contract with the XFC. I am not scared to fight anybody. I have been through too much in my life to be scared of any man. All you have to do is look at one of my fights to see my heart & my fearless style. This has nothing to do with me being scared. It is more so just an attempt to bully me into a contract.

XFC trash talking me and trying to slander my name upsets me more then anything but they are promoters. XFC is promoting, thats what they do. They have to try and make their guys look as good as possible and I’m not one of their guys so it is at my expense.

Even though Scott is bad mouthing me as well, I have no ill will towards him. I consider myself to be a professional and as a professional I choose to stay away from negative talk towards other fighters, but I understand that he is an unfortunate victim of circumstance.